[Prognosis of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome in infants. Apropos of 31 cases].

The fate of 31 children (18 boys, 13 girls) whose Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) had been diagnosed before they were 2 years' old (mean 3.4 months) was investigated. The circumstances in which WPW was discovered were: evaluation of a heart disease in 9 cases, attack of orthodromic tachycardia in 16 cases (including one with cardiopathy), and routine electrocardiography in 6 cases. Type A WPW was the most frequent, being found in 20 patients of whom only 3 had a heart disease; type B WPW was present in 11 patients, and 7 of these had a heart disease. Mean follow-up was 5.9 years; 3 children died of other causes than WPW. In patients followed up for more than one year WPW disappeared in 65 p. 100 of the cases (11/17) in the absence of cardiopathy, and in only 14 p. 100 of the cases (1/7) in the presence of cardiopathy. In children who had suffered attacks of tachycardia WPW disappeared in 64 p. 100 of the cases (9/14). When WPW disappeared it was before the age of 1 year in 8 out of 12 cases. Only one child whose WPW had disappeared had further attacks of tachycardia (11 p. 100), while 3 children whose WPW persisted had short and widely spaced attacks (60 p. 100). This study confirms the high rate of spontaneous disappearance of WPW and the excellent prognosis of this syndrome in the absence of heart disease.